Maui, Day 7: Samphire Salad with Papaya and Sesame

Sea asparagus. Because that is totally a thing. Look it up.

Ingredients
2 handfuls (about 3 oz) sea asparagus (a.k.a. samphire), chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 tsp black sesame seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 ripe avocado, diced
1/4 ripe papaya, diced
Diced pineapple (about the same amount as the papaya)

Rinse the sea asparagus and then let soak in cold water for 1-2 hours to remove some of the saltiness. Drain, rinse, and dry in a salad spinner.

Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds over medium heat until fragrant, then add the olive oil and swirl. Remove from the heat. (You could use sesame oil instead here for simplicity—we just didn't have any, and I like the look of the black sesame seeds anyway).

Toss the sea asparagus in the sesame seeds and enough of the oil to coat lightly. Add the avocado and fruit, toss well but gently, and then stick in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to chill before serving. (The acidity of the pineapple should keep the avocado from browning. If you're impatient, stick in the  freezer along with your bowls or plates for 5 minutes and then serve.)

Serves 2-4.

Hiking along the coast near Pa'iloa Beach

Star Fruit (the sort of thing you wonder how you've gone your whole life without)

Abiu (like a cross between a pear and a marshmallow. Kind of weird, but interesting.)

(...but mostly weird.)

Quinoa and braised kale with curry leaf, coconut, and lemongrass

Sesame Crusted Albacore with Asparagus and Ginger

It's 8pm. A well-intentioned husband goes hunting at the local co-op and brings back sustainably fished albacore tuna, which you are pretty sure you don't like, but have resolved not to mention aloud. You have on hand some rice, assorted condiments, a head of garlic. And asparagus, because apparently Sacramento is convinced that it's spring. Really, life could be worse. But what do you do with the tuna?

Answer: This.*

*This, it turns out, is DELICIOUS.**
**Which means I was completely wrong about not liking tuna.***
***Unless you consider the fact that no restaurant at which I had tried tuna (and I had tried it numerous times) ever did anything like this to it.****
****But then you have to wonder: Why wouldn't you do this to tuna?*****
*****Have I mentioned before my inordinate fondness for footnotes?


Ingredients
Black Forbidden rice, cooked with a little sauteed onion (or sub brown rice)
10-11 oz. (about .6 lbs) thick-cut, sushi-grade albacore tuna
Olive oil
1/2 bunch thin asparagus or a little more, tough ends trimmed, cut at a diagonal into 1" pieces (or sub young green beans)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Black sesame seeds
Kosher salt
Freshy ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 tsp julienned fresh ginger

Take the tuna out of the fridge to temper. Sprinkle with salt, grind black pepper liberally over the top, and cover densely with sesame seeds.

Combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil in a small dish. Heat a glug of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium to medium-high heat. When hot, add the asparagus and toss to coat lightly with the oil. Cook for several minutes, tossing or stirring every 2 minutes or so, until lightly browned on at least one side and al dente (a fork should insert smoothly, without it feeling either crunchy and raw or mushy and overly soft). Add the soy sauce mixture, stir immediately, and then turn the heat off as it simmers and begins to evaporate. Let simmer for another 10 seconds or so, then decant the asparagus and sauce into a bowl and set aside. Wipe the pan out lightly (and carefully) with a paper towel if there are drops of soy sauce remaining.

Add a glug of olive oil to the pan and turn the heat back on to medium. Add the smashed garlic clove and cook for a minute or so, pressing it into the pan, until it just begins to soften. Add the ginger, stir once or twice, then add the tuna. Cook for a couple minutes per side or until it browns, then flip. As the ginger begins to turn golden, you can fish it out of the pan and either put it on top of the fish or add it to the bowl of asparagus.

When the tuna is browned on the outside but still completely rare in the middle (or about two minutes away from being however cooked you want it), remove from the pan and place on a cutting board. Let sit for a minute. Meanwhile, add the asparagus to the pan to reheat for a minute, stirring, then turn the heat off.

Slice the albacore into half-inch pieces. Serve over a bed of rice (it will warm through from the heat of the rice, which is why you want to stop cooking it a bit early) and spoon the asparagus and sauce over the top. Serve immediately.

Serves 2. Pairs well with an ice cold cup of Onigoroshi sake, available at the Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley, among other places.

Simple Daikon and Carrot Salad

This is a snap to prepare, and the toasted sesame seeds give it a little zip. It goes well with fish, and was a quick and easy way to pair some plants with our takeout sushi earlier this week.

Ingredients
Carrots and daikon, in equal parts, peeled
Black sesame seeds

Toast sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat until fragrant, shaking the pan or stirring from time to time. Meanwhile, coarsely grate the carrot and daikon and toss together in a bowl. Top with sesame seeds, and serve.

Cucumber Salad with Pan-Seared Kale

I can't help but feel that kale and I have some unfinished business. After my summertime kale saga and subsequent declaration of victory, I pretty much checked kale off a mental list of untried vegetables and have been blithely ignoring it for the most part since. But kale, I suspect, has unplumbed depths. It is more than a risotto ingredient or toast topper. I have not, in short, given kale its due.

Case in point: It can apparently be pan-seared with black sesame seeds and tossed with cucumbers and rice vinegar for a delicious and vaguely Japanese-ish accompaniment to take-out sushi.

Ingredients
2 small or one large cucumber, diced
Seasoned rice vinegar
Olive oil
Black sesame seeds
7-10 leaves dino kale, rinsed, dried, and sliced crosswise into ribbons

Sprinkle the cucumber with rice vinegar, stir, and set in the fridge to chill and crisp for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add a liberal sprinkling of sesame seeds and stir for 10 seconds or so, then add the kale. Toss with the sesame seeds (I found tongs to be the most useful here) and cook, turning occasionally but not too often, until wilted and just slightly browned or seared. Set aside (or in the fridge) to let it cool to room temperature.

Mix the kale and cucumber together, and serve.

Cucumber Salad with Toasted Sesame Seeds

Found in our CSA box: Armenian cucumbers (light-colored and long, and apparently actually a melon impersonating a cucumber, which seems pretty impressive as melon acting skills go.)

Ingredients
2 long Armenian cucumbers, peeled and diced (or substitute any sweet, crunchy cucumber)
1 tsp black sesame seeds
Seasoned rice vinegar


Heat a small pan over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the sesame seeds and toast, shaking the pan or stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Remove from heat.

Peel and dice cucumber. Sprinkle liberally with rice vinegar to taste (it should taste flavorful but not strong). Stick in the fridge for a couple minutes to let the cucumbers crisp, then toss, adjust rice vinegar if necessary, and serve sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

Serves 3, or 2 very greedy diners, and goes well with the salmon below.